Montrose Returns

The recently revived Montrose farmers market is much changed. It’s held on Sunday mornings, not Thursday evenings; its location now rotates among four adjacent blocks downtown; and, perhaps most important, it’s run by Mark Sheridan, former manager of the successful Santa Barbara farmers market.

Sheridan has refocused the market on produce and taken it upscale: He provides ice and wicker tubs for farmers, and has directed them to unload and move their trucks so the market looks neat.

He has brought in several growers from the Santa Barbara market, including Givens Organic Farm of Goleta, which on Sunday had wonderfully sweet and tender Chandler strawberries, top-quality salad mix, leeks, fennel and black kale.

From Clovis, Xiong Her brought sugar snap and snow peas, long beans, baby bok choy, Chinese broccoli and lemongrass. Bertha Wong had oblong Juliette cherry tomatoes, beefsteak-type Shady Lady tomatoes and crisp, thin-skinned Japanese cucumbers grown hydroponically near the Salton Sea.

Stone fruit has been running about a week late this year, but Lucia Vargas of Arvin had Sherrill’s Delight yellow clingstone peaches, which were pretty good for an early variety. Steven Murray, also of Arvin, showed up with large, tasty Brooks cherries (best when they’re dark), as well as light-fleshed Royal Rainiers, a new, early-maturing cousin of Rainier.

Don Schram of Fillmore had juicy, thin-skinned Valencia oranges, which he started harvesting a month ago; they are good now but will taste sweeter in a few weeks. He also had Chislett summer navel oranges, one of several recently introduced late-season types, which were quite sweet but not very juicy.

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Montrose farmers market rotates among the 2200, 2300 and 2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue and the 3700 block of Ocean View Boulevard (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays; for locations on specific dates, go to www.shopmontrose.com).